“I have been here for 23 years and this is worst tragedy that has involved this many of our soldiers,” Fort Bliss spokeswoman Jean Offutt said. “The last time we had a similar tragedy was in 1999 when we lost five of our (military intelligence) soldiers during a reconnaissance mission in Colombia.”

In addition to the 15 soldiers who are dead, missing or captured, Fort Bliss officials have said four other soldiers were wounded but are now in military hospitals.

The family of Spc. James Grubb of Kentucky said he was shot in both arms and a leg, and had shrapnel in the other leg. Post officials did not have the names of the other three wounded soldiers and a Defense Department official said that as part of normal practice they are not releasing the names of wounded.

Officials from U.S. Central Command in Kuwait and Fort Bliss said a six-truck convoy took a wrong turn, leading to the ambush of the maintenance company, but details of the circumstances and what has occurred since then have been unclear.

“It will all come out after they (U.S. Central Command) look into the incident,” Offutt said. “They want to know what happen and how it could have been prevented.”

Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, who represents El Paso in Congress, said he asked Pentagon officials why the company wasn’t escorted by other soldiers who were trained specifically for combat. Reyes said he was told by Pentagon officials that the 507th ran into an Iraqi combat unit that included a couple of tanks and soldiers armed with automatic weapons.

“(The 507th) was lightly armed. They didn’t have a chance,” Reyes said. “My concern is that we don’t want other support groups put in jeopardy because of this (military) strategy of dashing to Baghdad. We know getting answers will take time, but we don’t want this to happen to another support unit.”

Lt. Helina Rojas of U.S. Central Command in Kuwait said they do not know how many people were in the convoy and “even if we did we wouldn’t publicize for security reasons because it is operational information.”

Listed as killed in action are Spc. Jamaal R. Addison and Pfc. Howard Johnson II.

Missing in action are Master Sgt. Robert J. Dowdy, Pvt. Ruben Estrella-Soto, Spc. James M. Kiehl, Pfc. Jessica D. Lynch, Chief Warrant Officer Johnny Villareal Mata, Pfc. Lori Ann Piestewa, Pvt. Brandon Ulysses Sloan and Sgt. Donald Ralph Walters. Listed as captured are Spc. Edgar Adan Hernandez, Spc. Joseph Neal Hudson, Spc. Shoshana Nyree Johnson, Pfc. Patrick Wayne Miller and Sgt. James Joseph Riley.

Col. Fred Hudson, Fort Bliss’s installation chaplain, said all the soldiers’ families have been formally notified of their status.

“On the two notifications that have taken place today, the families did not live here so they were notified by other chaplains from other installations nearby,” Hudson said, referring to the families of Addison and Johnson.

“Those who have lost a loved one in combat grieve and we grieve along with them, but it’s not the same because they lost a part of their family,” he said. “Still we grieve because they were part of our family.”

Hudson said Fort Bliss chaplains have been involved in helping to notify local families about each of their family members.

“For those families whose soldier is prisoner of war, it’s terrible, but in a sense it’s a relief because you know that they are still alive,” he said. “But you also worry about how they are treated and when are they going to be released?”

For the families of those who are missing, Hudson said, fear is greater and the questions are desperate.

“Those families have a heavy burden to bear because of the question: ‘Where is my loved one?,”’ he said. “And that is a terrible nightmare.”

Hudson said members of the public wanting to send their support to the families of the 507th Maintenance Company should pray.

“Pray for the families and if they can get a picture from the newspaper of the soldier and put it in a window so as to say, ‘Hey, I want the families to know that their son, daughter, wife or husband, means something to me,” he said.

Fort Bliss officials said in a news release Wednesday that “pursuit of public statements by family members at this time is not in the best interests of our soldiers who are or may be held captive.”

“Such statements could be used to coerce and manipulate soldiers who are being held prisoners of war,” the release said.

El Paso Times Editor Dionicio “Don” Flores said the paper is sensitive to the emotions of the families and security concerns. But he said the paper couldn’t suspend reporting on such a significant and emotional story.

“We’re going to do what we need to do to keep our readers and our community informed of what is happening to our soldiers at Fort Bliss,” Flores said. “That includes letting our readers and community know how the families of those soldiers are coping back at home. Those families would include families of those killed in action, those missing in action, those wounded in action and those taken prisoner of war.”